Barren Harvest – Subtle Cruelties (Handmade Birds, 2014)

Darkness comes in many forms.  A band doesn’t necessarily have to scream about Satan or pile on the distortion in order to take listeners to pitch-black places.  Subtle Cruelties, the debut album from West Coast duo Barren Harvest, is an exquisite example of this.  A collaboration between Jessica Way of Worm Ouroboros and Atriarch’s Lenny Smith, Barren Harvest’s sound is rooted in the subtle tones and textures of ambient and neofolk, yet somehow manages to be darker and more sorrowful than even the most depressive of black metal bands.